Furniture article with lifting jack



- a: "mi- Sept. 18, 1956 A. l. SCHRAM FURNITURE ARTICLE WITH LIFTING JACK Filed April 4, 1952 III INVENTOR. flrfhur I. Schram United States Patent FURNITURE ARTICLE WITH LIFTING JACK Arthur I. Schram, Bailey, Mich. Application April 4, 1952, Serial No. 280,556

4 Claims. (Cl. 155-88) This invention relates to furniture articles embodying elevating means therefor, and more particularly to a furniture article, such as a sofa or divan, having a jack rotatably secured to the under side of the frame thereof and depending from the frame so that the jack can be operated to elevate the sofa or divan and the sofa or divan can be turned while held in elevated position by the jack.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved jack and sofa or divan combination wherein a jack is disposed below a sofa frame and is connected at its upper end to the under side of the seat near the center of the latter so that the jack can be operated to lift the sofa from the floor on which it rests, the jack having relatively rotatable components enabling the sofa to be turned to any desired position while supported by the jack and then returned to rest on the floor; which includes a jack assembly that can be attached to an existing sofa or divan with no material modification of the sofa or divan construction; and which also includes foot operated means located beneath a sofa or divan.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a sofa and jack assembly illustrative of the invention;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the assembly illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the sofa and jack assembly illustrated in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on an enlarged scale on the line 44 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on an enlarged scale on the line 55 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a transverse cross sectional view on the line 6-6 of Figure 5; and

Figure 7 is a transverse cross sectional view on the line 7-7 of Figure 4.

With continued reference to the drawing, the illustrated sofa, generally indicated at 10, has a seat 11 of elongated, rectangular shape, arms 12 and 13 disposed one at each end of the seat and upstanding therefrom, a back 14 extending along the back or rear side of the seat, and legs, as indicated at 15, depending from the seat one at each corner thereof. The seat 11 is supported on a frame including cross members, as indicated at 16, 17, 18 and 19 extending transversely of the underside of the seat 11 at spaced apart locations along the latter. The cross members 17 and 18 are disposed adjacent to and spaced substantially equal distances from the midlength location of the seat.

A jack assembly, generally indicated at 20, is disposed below the seat 11 of the sofa and comprises a flat head plate 21 of elongated, rectangular shape extending between the outer sides of the intermediate frame cross members 17 and 18 and secured at its ends to these cross members with the center of the plate substantially at the center of the seat 11. The plate is secured to the cross members 17 and 18 by suitable means, such as the screws 22 and an upper or outer cylinder 23 is secured at its closed upper end to the plate 21 at the center of the underside of the plate by suitable means, such as the weld joint 24. The cylinder 23 depends perpendicularly from the plate 21 and the open upper end of an inner or lower cylinder 25 is slidable in the open lower end of the outer cylinder 23. The inner cylinder is provided with external vertically spaced, circumferential grooves within the outer cylinder 23, and oil seals 26 and 27 are mounted in these grooves and contact the inner surface of the outer cylinder to prevent leakage of hydraulic fluid between the inner and outer cylinders.

A flat base plate 30 is provided at the center of its upper surface with an annular, externally screw threaded boss 31, and anti-friction bearing balls 32 are disposed in this boss. The closed lower end of the inner cylinder 25 is received in the boss and rests upon the bearing balls 32, and a cap nut 33 is threaded onto the boss 31 and has at its upper end an inwardly directed flange which engages an annular shoulder 34 on the lower cylinder to secure the lower cylinder to the base plate 30 while providing freedom of rotational movement of the lower cylinder relative to the base plate.

' Adjacent its lower end the inner cylinder 25 is provided with diametrically opposed and longitudinally extending slots 37 and 38 and a pin 39 extends transversely of the inner cylinder and through the slots 37 and 38. A piston 40 is mounted in the inner cylinder 25 above the slots 37 and 38 and a piston rod 41 depends from the piston 40 and has at its lower end an eye formation which receives the pin 39 to connect the piston to the pin.

A lug 42 projects outwardly from the inner cylinder 25 adjacent the cap nut 33 and a jack-operating lever 43 is pivotally connected intermediate its length to the lug 42 at the outer end of the latter by means of a pivot pin 44 which extends through registering apertures in the lever and the lug. The lever is provided with a bifurcated end portion including legs 45 and 46 which are disposed one at each side of the lug 42 and which extend at respectively opposite sides of the inner cylinder 25 and are provided at their distal ends with forks 47 and 48 in which the corresponding ends of the pin 39 are received. A treadle 50 is provided on the other end of the lever and is spaced from the pivot pin 44 at a distance materially greater than the distance from the pivot pin to the pin receiving formations 47 and 48, the distance from the inner cylinder 25 to the treadle 50 being such that the treadle projects only slightly beyond the front side of the sofa seat 11 adjacent the midlength location of the seat, as is shown in Figure l.

A body of hydraulic fluid 51 is contained in the outer and inner cylinders between the top end of the piston 40 and the closed upper end of the outer cylinder 23 and a filling aperture and plug 52 is provided in the outer cylinder at the upper closed end of the latter for filling the chamber provided within the cylinders with hydraulic fluid.

In the use of the device, when the sofa legs 15 rest on the floor the treadle 50 is held in an elevated position above the floor by the weight of the sofa on the body of hydraulic fluid 51 and on the piston 40. When it is desired to turn the sofa, the treadle 50 is forced downwardly by foot pressure to a location adjacent the floor and this raises the sofa sufficiently so that its legs are clear of the floor, a mechanical advantage for lifting the sofa being obtained by the difference in the distances of the opposite ends of the lever 43 from the pivot pin 44. When the sofa has been raised so that its legs clear the floor it can be easily turned by reason of the anti-friction support provided by the anti-friction bearing balls 32 for the cylinders 23 and 25 on the base plate 30. After the sofa has been turned to a desired angular position the 3 foot pressure on the treadle 50 is released so as to permit the sofa to return to rest upon the floor.

With this arrangement a heavy sofa or divan can be easily raised and turned to different positions for facing different objects, such as a window, a television appliance or a fireplace, without the necessity of manually lifting and moving the sofa.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, The present embodiment is, therefore, to be consideredin all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changeswhich come within the meaning andrange of equivalency of the claims are, therefore,.intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. In a jack, an outer cylinder having a closed upper end and an open lower end, an inner cylinder working within said outer cylinder, said inner. cylinder having an open upper end and a. lower end, a piston working within said inner cylinder, said piston having a lower end, a piston rod on and depending from the lower end. of the piston and within said inner cylinder, a transverse pin on said piston rod, said inner cylinder having a side wall, opposed vertical slots in the inner cylinder side wall in which said pin is engaged, a lever having first and second ends, means pivoting said lever on said inner. cylinder at a point intermediate said first and second ends, and

means operatively connecting said first end of the leverto said pin.

2. In a jack, an outer cylinder having a closed upper end and an open lower end, an inner cylinder working within said outer cylinder, said inner cylinder having an open upper end and a lower end, a piston working within said inner cylinder, said piston having a lower end, a piston rod on and depending from the lower end of the piston and within said inner cylinder, a transverse pin on said piston rod, said inner cylinder having a side wall, opposed vertical slots in the inner cylinder side wall in which said pin is engaged, a lever having first and second ends, means pivoting said lever on said inner cylinder at a point intermediate said first and secondends, and means operatively connecting said first end of the lever to said pin, and an enlarged support engaging base rotatably secured to the lower end of the inner cylinder.

3. In an article of furniture, a horizontal frame having depending legs normally supporting the frame on a floor, an outer cylinder having a closed upper end and an open lower end, means securing the upper end of the outer cylinder to the frame, an inner cylinder working in said outer cylinder, said inner cylinder having an open upper end and a lower end, a piston working in said inner cylinder, said outer and inner cylinders containing hydraulic fluid above the piston, a flow engaging base on the lower end of the inner cylinder, and piston operating means mounted on the inner cylinder and operatively connected to the piston.

4. In an article of furniture, a horizontal frame having depending legs normally supporting the frame on a floor, an outer cylinder having a closed upper end and an open lower end, means securing the upper end of the outer cylinder to the frame, an inner cylinder working in said outer cylinder, said inner cylinder having an open upper end and a lower end, a piston working in said inner cylinder, said outer and inner cylinders containing hydraulic fluid above the piston, a floor engaging base on the lower end of the inner cylinder, and piston operating means mounted on the inner cylinder and operatively connected to the piston, and means securing said base revolubly to the lower end of the inner cylinder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,344,711 Paoli June 29, 1920 1,516,866 OConner Nov. 25, 1924 1,529,814 Rigby Mar. 17, 1925 2,226,970 Engel Dec. 31, 1940 2,450,608 Page Oct. 5, 1948' 2,510,517 Osiriski June 6, 1950 2,513,440 Alderson July 4, 1950 2,553,939 Pivovarofl May 22, 1951 

